MADE: Almost Too Decadent Mac 'n' Cheese

Just before the holidays, I realized that I needed to clean out my fridge before leaving for break. While most things were manageable enough--eating yogurt for breakfast for a week straight was fine, as was consuming several pepper jam sandwiches per day--one food item presented a particular challenge: my cheese hoard.

Mac 'n' cheese was calling--practically screaming--to me.  I mustered my forces--half a block of swiss, a third of a block of mozzarella, and a fourth of a block of cheddar, plus some random bleu cheese from some quiche or salad experiment gone by--and stirred this up.

Ingredients:

1/2 package bacon (about 6 slices)
1/2 medium onion (or perhaps a little less, depending on your taste for onion), diced
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Pinch sage
Pinch rosemary
1.5 lbs cheese, grated or pulled into chunks (I used cheddar, mozzarella, swiss, and a little bit of some random leftover crumbly bleu)
3/4 lb pasta (I used a mix of leftover farfalle and medium shells), cooked and drained
2 slices thick bread, toasted and diced into 1/4 inch cubes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cook bacon in large skillet until crispy, then drain on paper towel-covered plate. Once cool, crumble and chop bacon into 1/4 inch chunks. Drain all but 2 tbsp of the bacon grease from skillet, then saute onion over medium heat until tender (about five minutes). Remove onions from heat and toss together with crumbled bacon. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk until just boiling. Meanwhile, melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add flour, stirring constantly and lowering heat to medium low. Cook flour and butter mixture five minutes more, stirring frequently, until it turns a golden color. Add heated milk 1 cup at a time, stirring after each addition until thoroughly mixed. Continue to heat and stir until mixture thickens--about 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and spices to taste, then add all but 1/3 cup of the cheese. Stir all together.

Pour cooked pasta into medium casserole dish. Pour the cheesy sauce mixture and the onion/bacon mixture over the pasta, then stir to coat. Top the casserole with a mixture of the bread crumbs and remaining cheese. Put it in the oven to bake for 30 minutes (or however long you can stand to keep from eating it) and then remove to DEVOUR.

Recommendation: Share with housemates to A) avoid butter consumption guilt and B) engender housemate happiness!

Further note: The bechemel sauce (that's the butter, flour, heated milk portion of this recipe) is one of my favorite pieces of cooking alchemy. Making a good bechemel involves watching food undergo a series of state changes that can't fail to remind the cook about the science behind cooking. Wheeee!

TEASER: Chocolate Mint Cupcakes and Too-Much-Cheese and Mac

As the quarter draws to a close and my procrastination cooking grows to epic proportions, I've got two amazing recipes in the hopper. Cupcakes and mac 'n' cheese, folks! Get excited!
(I know I am!)

TO MAKE: Chocolate Peppermint Bars

I know, I know. You're saying "But you just MADE chocolate-mint cookies. Why do you need another recipe?" To you I say--Shush. 

I got this in my Reader feed from Serious Eats, who in turn got it from The Gourmet Cookie Book. Delightful!

I'm hoping to make these for all of my Seattle friends before I skip town--probably Sunday night in a post-paperwriting frenzy. Let you know how they turn out soon!

(I might also attempt some sort of cupcake based on the Chocolate-Peppermint theme. Stay tuned!)

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 ounces)
• 1 cup coarsely crushed peppermint hard candies (1/4 pound)

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 13-by-9-inch metal baking pan with 1 sheet of foil, allowing 2 inches of foil to hang over each end of pan, and butter foil (except overhang).
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg until combined. Reduce speed to low, then mix in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips and candy. Spread dough evenly in pan and bake until puffed and beginning to pull away from sides of pan, about 20 minutes.
3. Cool completely in pan on a rack, then, lifting with foil, transfer to a cutting board. Cut into bars and lift off foil with a spatula.

MADE: Triple Chocolate Mint Cookies

In an admission that will be surprising to few, it turns out that the amount that I bake at any given time is directly proportional to the amount of homework that I should be doing. Thus it was that, last night, with the quarter drawing to a close,  I found myself in a pretty ridiculous forest of freshly-baked goods. In addition to the afore-mentioned Apple Pepper Pie (I just love saying that over and over), I whipped up a batch of Paulette's Triple Chocolate Cookies. (Since my housemate and I were also engaged in a fit of festive decorating, I made them festively minty by adding in a few squares of Ghirardelli chocolate with white mint filling.  If you disagree with this decision, I need to ask you to stop reading this blog now, and to rethink your life.)

Triple-Chocolate Mint Cookies


Makes about 20 ridiculously delicious cookies


Ingredients


2 ounces Ghirardelli White Mint Milk Chocolate squares, chopped

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips


Preparation


Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. 


Stir chopped chocolate in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth; remove from over water. Cool melted chocolate 10 minutes.


Meanwhile, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in another medium bowl until crumbly. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue to beat until mixture is light, pale, and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add lukewarm melted chocolate and vanilla and beat just until blended. Fold in dry ingredients, then chocolate chips.


Drop chocolate cookie batter by heaping tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time, until tops are evenly cracked but cookies are not yet firm to touch, about 14 minutes. Cool cookies completely on baking sheets, or DEVOUR while warm.

Words of Caution: Do not overbake! Also, don't add the vanilla early, or into the melted chocolate. Crazy science will ensue.

I didn't use an electric mixer on this, but I think everything turned out alright anyway. I DID use a makeshift double boiler, and did it quite well, if I do say so myself.

Lastly, the original recipe suggested using a quarter cup of batter for each cookie. By my estimations, using that much batter would make COOKIES THE SIZE OF MY FACE. Not that this is a problem, necessarily, but I had already made a pie. I didn't need face-cookies in addition. Perhaps next time, though...

MADE: Apple Pepper Pie

A while back, I was chatting with my dear friend over at Kitchen Wishes about pies, and we came across an article on chefs and their pie recipes. One chef, in a throwaway comment, mentioned a green chili-apple pie. I was wildly intrigued, and haven't really stopped thinking about it since.

Well, today was the day I stopped thinking and started doing.

At the farmer's market a while back, I bought a delightful concoction from Woodring's, who specialize in delightful concoctions. This particular one was raspberry pepper jelly, and I was hooked after a sample taste. It's spicy and sweet, and the heat of the peppers doesn't overwhelm their great flavor, or that of the raspberry. I didn't know exactly what I'd do with the jelly, but I had to buy it. Turns out, what I'd do with it is make vaguely unorthodox apple pie. (Also, it's great on toast, especially toast that's getting dipped in soup. And on grilled cheese--WOW is it good on grilled cheese...but anyway--back to the pie.)

The two thoughts--"Need to concoct a recipe for apple-chili pie" and "Need to find a recipe in which to use heaping dollops of raspberry pepper jelly"--combined to form a superthought, fusing into a dynamo of culinary potential energy that, finally, couldn't be ignored. I bought some apples.

Pastry for double crust pie:

2 heaping cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch chili powder
Pinch cinnamon
1 1/3 sticks butter, chilled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup ice water

Mix together flour, salt, and spices. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing together after each tablespoon, until mixture forms a ball. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate 4 hours, or overnight.

Filling:

3 or 4 large cooking apples, peeled and cut into skinny chunks (This could probably be more, although the apples I used were very large indeed. Also, I used galas, which aren't really ideal cooking apples, but they're delicious, and they go well with the peppers.)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 tbsp Woodring's Raspberry Pepper Jelly
1 tbsp butter
1 large egg yolk, beaten
Pinch chili powder

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Coat the apple chunks in lemon juice. Mix together sugars, flour, and spices and toss apples to coat. Add 1 1/2 tbsp of the pepper jelly to the apple mixture and toss some more. Bring out the crust dough, divide into two, and roll both out into slightly-larger-than-9-inch rounds. Fill a 9-inch pie pan with one of the crusts. Spread the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp of pepper jelly over the bottom of the crust, then pour apple mixture into crust. Cover with the second crust, and pinch together the edges. Cut vents in the top crust, and brush with beaten egg yolk. Sprinkle a tiny bit of chili powder and some cinnamon or brown sugar over the top of the crust.
Bake pie at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake for 40-45 minutes more, until the crust is beginning to brown and the apples inside are bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream!

Note: It occurs to me that people might think "Well geeeeeez, BlissandTell, thanks for a recipe with an exciting ingredient that I definitely don't have." My suggestion would be to make a paste out of green chilis, water, and sugar, or green chilis and raspberry jam. Probably a tablespoon of chilis and two of jam, or a tablespoon of chilis, one of water, one-half of sugar. But that's just a guesstimate. If anyone tries and it turns out great (or horrible), let me know!

TO MAKE: Decadent Dessert Blitz

In the past two days, I've had or heard word of two amazing desserts. One, chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cookies from my fellow choir foodie Paulette, and one from my cupcake goddess Marianne. Someone remind me not to make these on the same day--everyone in the vicinity will collapse into sugar comas.

Paulette's:

Triple-Chocolate Cookies
Bon Appétit, July 2005, by chef Tom Douglas

yield: Makes about 16

Ingredients

* 10 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
* 1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
* 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
* 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
* 3 large eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Stir chopped chocolate in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth; remove from over water. Cool melted chocolate 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in another medium bowl until crumbly. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue to beat until mixture is light, pale, and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add lukewarm melted chocolate and vanilla and beat just until blended. Fold in dry ingredients, then chocolate chips.

Drop chocolate cookie batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time, until tops are evenly cracked but cookies are not yet firm to touch, about 16 minutes. Cool cookies completely on baking sheets. Using metal spatula, carefully transfer 4 cookies to each of 4 large resealable plastic bags, arranging in single layer. Freeze cookies overnight. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep frozen.)

P.S. Do not overbake!!!

 

Marianne's:

Chocolate Salted-Caramel Mini Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup warm water
Salted Caramel Filling
sea salt, for garnish
Dark Chocolate Frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line mini muffin tins with paper liners. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and the water. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
2. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about two thirds full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.
3. To finish, use a paring knife to cut a cone shaped piece from the center of each cupcake. Spoon warm filling into each hollowed out cupcake. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over filling.
4. Pipe frosting onto each cupcake and garnish with sea salt.

Caramel Filling:
2 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Heat sugar with the water and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan over high, stirring occasionally, until syrup is clear; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Stop stirring, and cook until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush as needed. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is caramelized and just reaches 360 degrees. Remove from heat; slowly pour in cream (mixture will spatter) and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in salt. Use immediately; if at any time caramel begins to harden, reheat gently until pourable.

Dark Chocolate Frosting:

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water
2 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 pounds semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Combine cocoa and the boiling water, stirring until cocoa is dissolved. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, confectioner's sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the cocoa mixture. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to five days.

UPDATE

I am the proud new owner of a Canon Rebel T1i--an early Christmas present to myself (or perhaps a late graduation present? One of the two...).

That means that this blog will soon be furnished with....*drumroll*...PICTURES! Hooray!

I am stoked, and I'm sure you are, too.

TO MAKE: Southern Comfort Caramel Apple Pie

I am freaking out about this recipe already, and I can't wait to make it, either once I come back from Thanksgiving/Christmas or at some point over the Christmas holidays.

It's clear, really. Alcohol in baking is like unnecessary buttons on clothing to me: totally, irrationally irresistable.

Kudos to Boss Tweed for tossing this recipe my way, as well as its home blog. Ezra Pound Cakes--how could I resist a name like that!?

INSPIRATION STRIKE: Holiday Apple Pancakes

It's probably because everyone said it wouldn't happen that I'm so excited: IT'S SNOWING! Apparently they don't get much snow period in Seattle, but this is a right proper snowfall (approaching 2", by my expert calculations) and it hasn't even snowed in Chicago yet!


Anyway, shortly after leaping out of bed with a gleeful third-grade yell of "SNOW!", I realized that there was only one thing to be done: make pancakes. 

IT'S SNOWING TIME FOR CHRISTMAS TO START Celebratory Apple Pancakes
(I recommend making these with a good Christmas radio station as accompaniment, and a window in the background, so you can occasionally remind yourself about the SNOW.)

• For Apple Filling:
• 
  
• 2 medium sized apples, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp brown sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Put apple pieces on a nonstick baking sheet and cook for 30 minutes, turning once. Remove apple chunks from oven, toss into a bowl and refrigerate for a half hour (or however long it takes to make the batter). When ready to make pancakes, mix apple chunks and oats on a cutting board, chopping coarsely. Put apple/oat mixture back into a bowl and add the spices and sugar. Toss together.

For Pancake Batter:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• Pinch (or more than a pinch) of brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and white sugar, and mix together. Form a well in the dry ingredients and add brown sugar, egg, milk, butter, and vanilla. Mix until combined.

On a slightly oiled griddle over medium heat, drop about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. In the center of each batter scoop, pour about one spoonful of the apple/oat mixture, and press down so that the mixture embeds in the pancake. 

Flip carefully after pancakes begin to brown on one side (my indicator is usually the bubbles that form on the edges of the batter). Remove pancakes from heat after brown on both sides, and repeat until all the batter and apple mixture has been used. 

Enjoy with butter and maple syrup, and a cold snowy day.

TO MAKE: Cauliflower Bacon Gratin

I love playing with the crumbly texture of boiled cauliflower, and I obviously love bacon, so this recipe (from Dori Greenspan, the instigator of the pumpkin stuffed with everything good) got my salivatory instincts going.

I'll put up the recipe once I tweak it a little bit, but I can't wait to try it!

MADE: Borough Market Raclette

A year ago, I was wandering through a rainy, blustery city, anxiously awaiting a reunion with my crazy family for my favorite holiday of the year, Thanksgiving. To be sure, that's about exactly what I'm doing this year, except last year the blustery city was London, and my family made the trip across the pond to see me. (In case you were wondering--yes, it is possible to get a turkey for Thanksgiving in London. Most higher-end grocery stores bring in a stash for the invariable tourists and emigrés.)

During my time in London, one of my favorite traditions was a Saturday pilgrimage to Borough Market--the best market in London, in my opinion, because it is stuffed with food. Every week I'd go and wander around for an hour or so, feasting on free samples of cheese, bread, olive oil, chocolate, candied fruit, olives, and jam. I always felt a little like a storybook mouse or Dickensian orphan, furtively stuffing myself with tiny scraps of food. But who could blame me? It was delicious!

When it came to actually purchasing food at Borough Market, though, one dish stood out: Raclette at KAPPACASEIN. My dear roommate Laura and I shared a plateful on a couple of occasions, and spent blissful moments wallowing in cheese-induced happiness each time. (Laura jokes that she made a trip back to London specifically to satisfy a craving for it. She was probably kidding...) The dish itself was simple--potatoes, onions, and baby gherkins covered in bubbling, gooey raclette cheese--but the taste and the experience were delightful. Standing in a long line, huddled together with tourists and Southwark neighbors alike, watching gustatory craftsmen heat wheels of cheese under open flames until the point of maximum gooey goodness, then scraping the cheesy gob over a waiting plate of vegetables: Order up!

In Trader Joe's a week or so ago, I happened to spy a block of raclette and was immediately overwhelmed with waves of nostalgia. Without thinking twice, I bought it and brought it home for my own homage to those Saturday morning market rambles.

While I was cooking, I tried to pretend that I was in a tent in London, surrounded by bustling, jabbering crowds and myriad, tantalizing smells, sweating over an open flame with a big knife against a wheel of cheese larger than my head. I highly recommend this method of cooking fantasy--it really heightens the experience.

An Homage to Borough Market Raclette

3 or 4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and diced into 1" chunks

1/2 large onion, diced

1/2 tbsp. butter

Pinch sea salt

Splash of white wine vinegar

Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb. Raclette

Boil potatoes in a pot of water until just tender, about 8 minutes (I like my potatoes on the crunchy side, but they at least need to be firm enough not to crumble away under a fork). Meanwhile, melt butter in a skillet. Add the pinch of sea salt and onion, sautéing lightly. After about 2 minutes, add a splash of white wine vinegar and continue to stir occasionally, cooking about 5 minutes total.

Once both are tender, remove potatoes and onions from heat. Strain potatoes and toss with onions, salt, and pepper, and serve on plates. (For an authentic Borough Market experience, grind salt and pepper over each plate. It might not add to the actual flavor, but in my head it did.)

In a nonstick skillet, heat raclette until it is melted, bubbly, and very gooey. Divide the gooey mess evenly over the servings. Consume with a good friend or two, preferably as you sit in the sun next to Southwark Cathedral. Although really, if you're sitting there, you might as well get a plate of the real stuff...

Note: I didn't use pickles in my recipe simply because I forgot to get them. I have another chunk of raclette in the fridge, so I'll probably be trying again soon. Next time, with pickles! (Not the title of my upcoming cookbook...)

EPIC CROWD PLEASER: Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Delicious

A little while after this NPR story happened, EVERYONE IN THE WORLD started telling me about it. "Did you hear about the stuffed pumpkin?" they'd ask? Or perhaps "Hey, I know you're really into fall cooking--there was this great story about stuffed pumpkins on NPR a few days ago." My dad e-mailed the story and a request that we recreate it at Thanksgiving. It got to the point that I started to cut people off at "I heard this great recipe on NPR..." with "Stuffed Pumpkin. Yes. I know. I'VE ALREADY PLANNED A POTLUCK AROUND IT. Chill."

And I had. For I, too, caught the story, and that story caught my imagination. I saw it all, in a warm, hazy glow of domesticity: a potluck, flooded with warmth and cheer and more food than anyone could possibly consume. In the center of this gustatory bliss--the pumpkin, stuffed with EVERYTHING GOOD.

Thus, my (annual?) Let Them Eat Squash Potluck was born, with the spectacular much-hyped pumpkin at its center. (If you'd like to hear the colorful story of how I procured this pivotal pumpkin, please do ask. It's a doozie!)

One great thing about the recipe is that it's quite customizable. My dear friend at KitchenWishes made one of her own with gouda and parmesan, and had a bunch of other great ideas for other possible pumpkins. For mine, I of course threw in token amounts of the three B's, as well as some vegetables. But not too many vegetables--let's not be crazy.

1 pumpkin (The original recipe recommended 3 pounds, but I think that mine was larger)

Salt and pepper

3 cups stale bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

4 cups cheese, grated and/or cut into chunks (I used a mixture of gruyere, swiss, and mozzarella, with a little parmesan)

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

6 strips bacon, cooked, drained and chopped (drippings reserved)

1 medium onion, diced

Pinch brown sugar

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks

1 tsp ground sage

1 tsp ground oregano

About 1/3 cup heavy cream

About 1/4 cup milk

Pinch ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Clean the pumpkin as you would a jack-o-lantern. Cut off a cap at the top, and scoop out seeds and pulp thoroughly. Once the pumpkin is cleaned of its inner gunk, season the inside liberally with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet (if you're bold and trust your pumpkin not to collapse while baking) or in a Dutch oven, sized to be a little larger than your pumpkin in diameter (if you don't trust the integrity of that sassy squash).

Sauté onions in leftover bacon grease with salt, pepper, and brown sugar. When onions are slightly tender, add red pepper and continue to sauté, about five minutes. In a large separate bowl, toss together bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, and herbs, seasoning with pepper to taste. Add onions and peppers from skillet, tossing all together. Transfer the entire mixture into the pumpkin.

Stir together cream, milk, and nutmeg, as well as some salt and pepper to taste. Pour into the pumpkin and stir mixture slightly. The ingredients should be well-moistened by the cream mixture, but not swimming (may require more or less cream), and the pumpkin should be well filled--neither too full nor too empty.

Put the pumpkin's cap in place and bake for 2 hours--checking in at about the 90-minute mark. With about 20 minutes left, remove the pumpkin cap and give the excess liquid a chance to bake away. When done, the pumpkin contents should be bubbling and the pumpkin flesh should be tender and easily pierced with the tip of a knife.

To Serve:

Carefully remove the pumpkin from the oven. This seems like an obvious suggestion, but since you are now handling a large, fragile squash full of molten delicious goo, it's good to be cautious.

The NPR article suggests cutting the pumpkin into slices, but that seems ridiculously messy to me, not to mention destructive to my potluck's beautiful centerpiece. Instead, I'd opt for keeping it intact and ladling it out. Encourage guests to scrape out the pumpkin meat as well as the stuffing--although they may not require much encouraging!

NB: The stuffed pumpkin goes delightfully with pumpkin ale or other seasonal beer, a discovery made by the incomparable Josh. Well done, Josh.

As I mentioned before, this has been requested for Thanksgiving dinner as well, so I might update with my findings on that adventure. The original story mentions stuffing the pumpkin with rice instead of bread crumbs, which is certainly an intriguing idea...

ONGOING QUEST: Corn Sausage Stuffing

This Thanksgiving, I'm on a quest for a delicious stuffing recipe. When I announced this in the office, Lauren mentioned her family's trusty recipe, and we exchanged a swap--her stuffing instructions for my galette (well, really it's Smitten Kitchen's galette, of course, and I'll be putting it up in a little bit).

Here's what I got from the rather surreptitious swap that ensued:

Corn Sausage Stuffing

12 oz. package Jimmy Dean "regular" sausage

3 medium onions, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups, although Lauren says that this might be stretching it)

8 cups bread cubes (1" cubes, about 16 bread slices)

1 tbsp dried parsley flakes

1 1/2 tsp Poultry Seasoning

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 can cream-style corn

Cook sausage in large skillet, stirring to break up, until browned. Remove sausage onto plate, leaving grease in skillet. Pour grease into measuring cup, and add vegetable oil or subtract grease as necessary to get 1/4 cup. Put 1/4 cup grease back in the skillet and cook onions in fat, stirring over medium-low heat until soft but not browned. Remove from heat. Stir sausage and creamed corn into onions.

In a BIG bowl, combine bread cubes with parsley, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Add the onion/sausage/corn mixture and toss until mixed. Stuff turkey or put into baking dish. If baking alone, cover with foil and bake at about 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Hmm. Sounds delicious, although I'll probably use some silly combination of spices instead of poultry seasoning. I'm quite tempted to toss in some cubed butternut squash as well, and of course a heaping dash of brown sugar.

ONGOING QUEST: The Perfect Banana Bread

I've been searching for amazing banana bread for a while. Banana desserts are an obsession of mine (although I've come to find that I'm not really interested in eating bananas as a standalone food...), and I frequently have a bowl of too-ripe, speckly bananas in my kitchen, just begging to be smashed into bread.

A while ago, though, I got in a banana bread rut. I was making loaves of bread, over and over again, each one becoming less interesting than the last.

I'm hoping that this recipe, lifted from Smitten Kitchen (my food blog Mecca), will spice it up a bit (pun only slightly intended). Also, it will continue in my recent habit of baking only recipes that call for alcohol--a habit which has caused my colleagues some concern, but not enough concern to keep them from eating the fruits of my booze-infused labors.

"Jacked-Up" Banana Bread

3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 to 1 cup light brown sugar (depending on the level of sweetness you prefer, I always use the smaller amount)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cup of flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

It's in the oven now!

Edit: TOO spicy. It's a bit more like a spice cake and a bit less like banana bread than I'd like it to be. Next loaf, definitely halving the amount of nutmeg and cinnamon.

CURRENT OBSESSION: Sarah Salad

I'd had variations on this salad before (spinach/feta/fruit/vinaigrette dressing), but the particular specimen that my friend Sarah brought to my potluck a few weeks back captured my stomach and my conscience (a recipe that DOESN'T involve several tablespoons of butter as a base? Novel!).

Sarah Salad:

Bowl full of baby spinach (about 2 cups, loose)

1/5 apple, diced into 1/4-inch chunks (I used Braeburn apples--firm and just a little tart)

1 tbsp. dried cranberries, coarsely chopped*

1 tbsp. pecans, coarsely chopped*

Splash of raspberry vinaigrette dressing

1/2 tbsp. crumbled feta

Toss together first five ingredients. Sprinkle feta over the top. Consume with the smug satisfaction of someone eating delicious healthy food.

*Note: Instead of these two, I've been throwing in a chopped handful of Trader Joe's Rosemary Pecans and Cranberries. Delicious!

Additional, non-asterisked note: The salad is also great with a bit of crumbled bacon, and Sarah recommends diced chicken. Adding meat to a salad, however, nullifies much of my healthy eating smugness, however, which is something I hate to sacrifice.

MADE: Cranberry Chicken Bake

Cranberry Chicken Bake, lifted from Cooks.com

3 whole chicken breasts, halved
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 tbsp. oil
1 c. ketchup
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. grated orange peel
1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen cranberries

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 3 quart baking dish. Place chicken breast halves in greased dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, in medium skillet over medium heat, cook and stir onion in hot oil until crisp tender. Add ketchup, brown sugar and orange peel. Blend until brown sugar id dissolved. Stir in cranberries. Spoon over partially baked chicken breasts. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until chicken is tender. Serves 6.

So clearly I'm going to throw out the ketchup in this recipe. Adding: more sugar, a smashed tomato, possibly a chili? Possibly a dash of salsa (my go-to substitute for the hated ketchup)? Possibly an apple?
We'll only know once I make it...
Edit: Threw out the ketchup, of course.
Turns out, this is both BEAUTIFUL and delicious. I wished I had been cooking for someone besides myself last night, so I could have subtly encouraged them to comment on my ability to prepare a gorgeous meal. Next time...
Here's an approximation of the recipe I ended up making.

2 whole chicken breasts
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp. oil (1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil, 1/2 tbsp. olive oil)
2 small tomatoes, diced
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. mandarin orange peel zest
1 c. fresh cranberries

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken breasts in greased baking dish and bake for 20 minutes.

While chicken cooks, heat oil (and a little bit of butter?) in a skillet. Add onions and cook about one minute, until just starting to soften. Add tomatoes and simmer about two minutes more, stirring. Add brown sugar and orange zest, and leave to simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Finally, add cranberries and simmer 1-2 minutes, or until cranberries start to get a little mushy, but don't lose their shape.

Pull out chicken, cover with cranberry mixture, and return to oven for another 25-30 minutes.

I think this would be great with a side of asparagus or mashed potatoes. As it was, I had it with a side of the mandarin orange that I used for the zest, which worked fine. I figured that tossing together anything else just for myself would verge on the excessive...